Malcolm Turnbull to adopt Murray Review recommendations; 7-Eleven workers offered visa amnesty: Midday Roundup

The federal government has handed down its response to the Murray Review, with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull indicating the government will adopt many of the inquiry’s recommendations, including those relating to curbing excessive credit card surcharges in shops, cabs and other businesses.

The government has indicated it agrees with most of the financial system inquiry’s major recommendations, withFairfax reporting the Coalition will ask the Productivity Commission to develop an alternative way for default super funds to be allocated to memebrs.

The changes also mean increased regulations for financial regulators themselves, changes to the way businesses raise capital and the regulation of self-managed super funds.

The review is the first inquiry into the Australian financial system for 15 years.

The response to the review has already been widely welcomed by groups including the  Australian Retailers Association, consumer group CHOICE, the Australian Bankers Association and CPA Australia.

7-Eleven workers offered amnesty

Thousands of 7-Eleven workers caught up in the underpayments controversy that has swept through the franchise will be granted amnesty following a Senate estimates hearing last night.

The amnesty, proposed by the Immigration Department secretary Michael Manthorpe at the hearing, has been offered to workers who provide assistance with investigations into the company.

According toFairfax, Manthorpe told the hearing international students who came forward with information will have “no action taken against them” and their visas would not be cancelled.

The amnesty follows a ministerial working group set up earlier this month to tackle the exploitation of workers caught up in the scandal.

Local shares fall on opening

Local shares fell sharply this morning on the back of a poor response to China’s GDP results, but were making some recovery before midday.

Michael McCarthy, CMC Markets chief market strategist, said the federal government’s response to the Murray Review will influence markets today.

“The announcement this morning of proposed legislative changes in response to the Murray inquiry into the financial system will directly impact sectors and stocks today,” he said.

“Further increases to capital requirements, higher compliance and training standards for financial planners and facilitation of crowdsourcing could all hit bank share prices today.

“Changes to default superannuation funds could see support for listed fund managers, but the new restrictions on transaction charges could see Cabcharge shares trounced.”

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark was down 0.3%, falling 18 points to 5251.7 points at 11.31am AEST. On Monday, the Dow Jones closed up 0.08%, rising 14.57 points to 17230.5 points.